No Fail BBQ Baby Back Ribs (Grill)

"Pushing 52 years old, I have tried every BBQ rib recipe out there. Slow smoked, different rubs, etc.. Sure, lot of them good, some of them just OK. Problem is, never could seem to repeat a good recipe, so came up with this. Super easy, super simple, and one that has been requested at least 20 times by friends and family. If you like Sweet Baby Ray's Original BBQ sauce, you'll probably like this."
 
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photo by jwalenta photo by jwalenta
photo by jwalenta
Ready In:
4hrs 20mins
Ingredients:
6
Serves:
2-3
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ingredients

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directions

  • Remove silver skin from bone side of ribs. Never used to do this, but now understand why the pros do. Using the tine of a dinner fork helps get things started, then it just peels off.
  • Put a large sheet of foil on the counter and place the ribs meat side down. You want enough foil to VERY lightly wrap (or tent) the ribs for grilling.
  • All the spice measurements above are estimates. We like things a bit on the zippy side, but not burning hot -- just a little bite. With that said, we season the bone side of the ribs heavy with garlic powder, medium heavy with cayenne, medium heavy with pepper, and light with salt. Really hard to over do it, as after 4+ hours on the grill, the spices seem to mellow.
  • Flip the ribs and repeat the seasoning. Again, may look heavy, but the flavors kinda vanish during cooking. Why you need to try it once and adjust to taste the 2nd time. I never taste the garlic no matter how much I put on, but the cayenne does adjust the spiciness. Even when we go pretty heavy with the cayenne, it is not over-powering.
  • Lightly wrap the ribs. You want to create a tent on top so the foil does not touch the meat. Pull up the ends lightly and seal. You do want to seal things so moisture does not escape. You can put these in the fridge all day, or put on the grill immediately.
  • I have a Weber Genesis gas grill that has a front, center and rear burner. Don't have to pre-heat, but I only turn on the front burner to low-medium -- grill will heat to about 250 degrees. Place the ribs towards the rear of the grill (away from the burner). Leave them there for 2 hours. Nothing you need to do except make sure the temp stays around 250. 200 is fine, 300 is fine -- but lower seems to produce better results.
  • After 2 hours, open the foil and coat with BBQ sauce. Should be a lot of juice in the foil at this point. If not, add some water, beer, or something. Re-seal the foil and let them go another 2 hours.
  • Now the tricky part. Pull the ribs towards the front the grill. Get a couple wide spatulas, open the foil, and carefully lift the rack of ribs from the foil and place directly on the center of the grill. At this point, the ribs will be pretty much done. Remove the foil from the grill. Turn on all the burners and coat the ribs with sauce. Close the lid. Things should start smoking from the sauce dripping and burning. If things are not smoking, turn up the heat. Keep an eye on things at this point. You do want a nice char, but you don't want to overdo it. Maybe 10-20 minutes for this step.
  • Get the 2 spatulas and remove to a cookie sheet or platter. Enjoy.
  • If you like Sweet Baby Ray's Original, you will like these. Fall off the bone every single time, and they require very little effort or attention. You can adjust the base seasoning to your liking. I have made these with the same general recipe and process from anywhere between 3 hours and 6 hours with very little loss in outcome. Hence the reason I call it "no fail".

Questions & Replies

  1. Is that 250 Fahrenheit or Celsius
     
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Reviews

  1. In short, the recipe is NOT fail proof. For my first time making ribs, I chose the recipe because it looked easy, and of course “no fail”. I followed everything exactly, and the ribs came out cooked nicely, however they were doomed from the beginning — all we could taste was the cayenne. My wife (who is Mexican) and I love spicy food, but this was too much, she was only able to eat one rib, and I only 3. I had been worried about them coming out too garlicky because the whole yard smelled like garlic while they cooked, but I have no idea if it was too much garlic because the cayenne covered it. I know the recipe says the measurements are estimates, but I’ve never cooked ribs before, and I had no idea what “heavy”, “medium” and “light” meant, so I just measured and blended the spices as listed above, and evenly covered my entire slab on both sides with all of it. (Slab was 3lbs with a lot of meat on it). Pictures or a video would help illustrate the ideal spice rub amounts. I will try again with 1 tbs black pepper, 2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt, and maybe 1 tsp or less of cayenne.
     
  2. Oh my yum, made these for Easter and my husband dubbed them food porn ??
     
  3. Sir...I have to say you are a god damn genius! Best way to cook ribs without heating up the house with the oven... And a far more superior taste of course, thank you so much. I used a 26 inch charcoal grill with the coals all on one side of the grill so I wasn't cooking directly over the heat, the thermometer on my grill makes it totally awesome...had to add coals halfway through but I just love the taste of a charcoal grill. Again thanks for posting this recipe...badass!
     
  4. I was looking for an easy-to-make recipe for a gas grill. This seemed simple enough. I knocked it out of the park. I DID happen to use Sweet Baby Rays, as well as the spice/herb mixture exactly as listed, and the ribs were AMAZING. I can't wait to make them again.
     
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Tweaks

  1. I too have tried different recipes, most of which take a lot of time. This is the simplest, most delicious recipe I have tried and it is the best. I like simple and easy. My variation is I do the 250 deg baking portion for 4 hours in the oven and finish them off on the BBQ for 20 minutes per your recipe . You can pre-cook them in the oven and store them in the frig sealed up well for up to 5 days and finish them on the BBQ. Thanks ...... I will be eating a lot more ribs now.
     

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